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Wednesday, 18 November 2009

Hooky hits the City

As City bankers prepare to count their Christmas bonuses, they will be able to celebrate with good ale rather than wine and champagne. Oxfordshire brewer Hook Norton has its bottled beer range on sale in the Corney & Barrow wine bar in the Lloyds Building in the heart of the City of London.Hook Norton managing director James Clarke said after the launch of his beers: "The atmosphere throughout the evening was electric and it was pleasing to see that people from different countries and all different ages were equally keen to learn about our range of beers and the brewing process. One American from New Orleans said he wished he could take cases of Hooky beers back home with him on the plane."Corney & Barrow has 13 bars throughout the City of London. Each one provides a service that ranges from business breakfasts and lunches to evening parties. Hook Norton bottled beers are sold in all Corney & Barrow bars while the Lime Street and Lloyds bars also sell the beers on draught.*Hook Norton beers have been judged as among the best in the world in the International Beer Challenge for 2009. The judges awarded gold medals to Double Stout, Twelve Days, Haymaker and Old Hooky -- more than any other brewer in the world. Two more Hook Norton beers picked up bronze awards -- Hooky Bitter and Hooky Gold -- and all six beers won medals for the quality of their bottle design and labelling.*Viewers who watched Country File on BBC last Sunday and who wondered which brewery was featured -- it was Hook Norton. Why the Beeb has this ridiculous attitude to banning commercial names is beyond comprehension. They don't say "A leading American manufacturer has made a bid for a chocolate firm founded by Quakers in the West Midlands."

I used to drink in a Corney all the time when I worked in the City. They used to sell Shepherd Neame beers in bottles and Pilsner Urquell in draught, so there's always been decent beer to drink in their bars. However generally the boss was paying for champagne so few of us touched it...